(ThyBlackMan.com) The banjo has come a long way since “Dueling Banjos” and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”. You don’t have to be an overall wearing Appalachian to enjoy the tell-tale twang of the banjo anymore, as the instrument has broken free of its American bluegrass niche and wormed its way into the heart of popular music. No longer just an addition to the Deliverance soundtrack, you can hear it taking centre stage in the music of Taylor Swift, The Band Perry, and Mumford and Sons. With the banjo being cooler than it’s ever been, there is no better time to start learning it than right now.
But before you start your first lesson, you’ll have to decide what kind of banjo you’ll want to play – and no, this doesn’t mean the brand. Unlike the guitar (which comes in a standard six-string set-up), a banjo can come in four-, five-, and even six-string versions. While contemporary music has seen a steady rise in six-string banjos, most of your favourite musicians still play on a five-string. That’s because the five-string is best suited for American old-time and bluegrass styles – styles that have influenced the picking and rolling of even the most pop-infused banjo player.
Picking you get, but what is a roll if not a carb you add to the side of your dinner plate? A roll is a type of picking that breaks up a chord. While the left hand holds a chord, the right strikes the individual strings according to an eighth-note arpeggio pattern that is repeated throughout the song. How you pick the strings during a roll is also up to you, and there are plenty of styles to choose from. The most popular style by far is the Scruggs style. Named after Earl Scruggs, the famous banjo-player who invented and popularized the style, it’s a fingerpicking method that uses the thumb, fore-, and middle fingers to pick over the strings in rapid succession. It’s what creates the definitive sound of the banjo. So if you want to sound like your pop-country heroes, you’ll have to learn how to roll with the best of them.
In order to achieve that sound you know and love about the banjo, you’re going to need more than just a banjo to help you out. While you can pluck at the strings with bare fingers, most accomplished banjo players will use finger and thumb picks to make plucking easier and more precise. Even Earl Scruggs used picks, so you’ll want to pick up a few for yourself. To make sure you have all of the necessary equipment before you arrive at your first lesson, check out the Long & McQuade music stores online. With a superior online catalogue of musical instruments, equipment, and sheet music, you’ll find all that you’ll ever need to emulate the sounds of Scruggs, T Swift, or Mumford and Sons on their site.
So you can forget about the theme song for “The Beverly Hillbillies”; with the right equipment and the enough time, you can play along with songs that are still on the radio. Just look up the tabs for “Little Lion Man” and start plucking along with the growing trend.
Staff Writer; Bobby Love